Don,
Nothing is going to explode. You had this all figured out in an earlier post...did the NAPA guy rattle your cage. There are two common ways to reduce the voltage so the points will last longer, they are both exactly the same, but one is hidden where you can't see it.
If you see the ceramic ballast resistor on the firewall (or somewhere) you use the standard coil. If you don't see the resistor on the firewall (or somewhere), use the coil with the secret resistor hidden inside.
The points will see the same voltage either way! With BOTH these systems, the ignition system WANTS the full whammy when it starts..12 volts. It is just for a few seconds and it allows the vehicle to start easier because you are using a bunch of juice to actually spin the starter.
My friend has a '64 and he has one wire on the coil...do you believe me? Find a factory wiring diagram for your truck. It will show you precisely how many factory wires it should have.
The only thing that would affect your truck is if you had no wires on the key side of the coil.
So the answer is..with a external resistor you could have one or two wires, depending on how it was wired...with an internal resistor coil, you would only have one wire.
My question to you is...how do the points get full battery voltage when you use a internal resistor coil. I haven't figured this one out!
Stuart
